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PROFAMIL Rebuilds
Dr. Gadner

“I am very grateful for IPPF/WHR because they helped Profamil after the earthquake. We hope to continue to receive support and expand services. Port-au-Prince was hit very hard and we hope to reach the people there and in other parts of the country in need.”

– PROFAMIL Executive Director, Dr. Michaud Gadner

August 19, 2009

Following the devastating January earthquake, our Member Association in Haiti, PROFAMIL, has been working diligently to get its feet back on the ground . IPPF/WHR and PROFAMIL have worked in close collaboration to get PROFAMIL’s services up and running, and they have made some amazing strides.

In the last few months PROFAMIL has grown tremendously, hiring a new Executive Director and three other key positions. Under its new leadership, PROFAMIL is again poised to be a key player in the provision of vital sexual and reproductive health services through its network of nearly 50 staff and community promoters.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, PROFAMIL offered basic health care. Yet now, given that an estimated 55% of people in the Haitian tent cities do not have access to sexual and reproductive health care, PROFAMIL is returning to its niche as a key provider of these services through it static and mobile health facilities.

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Take Urgent Action - A Promise is a Promise!

Right now at the United Nations, Member States have a unique opportunity to shape the outcome document, currently being negotiated, which will be adopted by Presidents and Prime Ministers at the upcoming high-level MDG Summit in September. That is why we need your help now!

Take action by sending an urgent letter to the US Mission to the UN and the State Department, asking that the US government keep its promise and play a significant leadership role at the UN in ensuring that greater political and financial commitments are made to accelerate progress towards MDG 5b. Such commitments will help ensure universal access to reproductive health and improve the lives and wellbeing of women and girls around the world.

 





 

Update on Haiti
April 15, 2010

tent clinicIPPF’s Haitian Member Association, PROFAMIL has set up semi-permanent field clinics within tent cities around and outside of Port-au-Prince and in Jacmel, while Mobile Health Units continue to service various communities. PROFAMIL currently sees anywhere from 60 to 100 people per day at its tent sites. This number depends largely on the available supplies on a given day. PROFAMIL has added a full time psychologist to its staff in Port-au-Prince as well as a trained social worker in Jacmel, to respond to the need for psychological support for the traumas that people are facing.  More than two months after the devastating earthquake struck Haiti, we are still working closely with PROFAMIL as they develop a service delivery strategy that matches the evolving situation on the ground and builds organizational capacity and key partnerships.

Reflections on the January 12th Earthquake

destruction of Jacmel clinic“There, the air was thick with dust so I assumed several houses must have collapsed and I went to St Michel hospital, the main hospital in the South-East. It was around 6pm… I was surrounded by two dozens injured people who were crying for help. Some had fractured limbs; others were injured and covered in blood...” writes Dr. Ernest Desir, Medical Director, Jacmel Clinic, PROFAMIL, Haiti. “We were not ready for such a catastrophe; we had no knowledge, no medical supplies or personnel. Since I was the only one in front of the hospital, I asked the ambulance driver to use his megaphone to call out for doctors, nurses, auxiliaries, private or public, to come to the hospital. I started checking up and talking to the injured people. I reduced limb fractures using pieces of cardboard, wood or anything that could immobilize the fractured or deformed limb. People were screaming from every direction…” Read Dr. Desir’s full account.


Read our publications on advocacy work:

Improving the Health Sector Response to Gender-Based Violence

This manual provides tools and guidelines for program managers working in developing countries. It includes practical tools to determine provider attitudes to gender-based violence, legal definitions and responsibilities, and quality of care.
Millennium Development Goal 5b Fact Sheet

UNIVERSAL ACCESS to reproductive health is key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. MDG 5, “Improve Maternal Health,” particularly target 5b, “Achieve Universal Access to Reproductive Health,” is the most off-track of all MDGs, even though the critical importance of reproductive health to development has been widely acknowledged. Universal access to reproductive health is the key to:

  • reducing maternal mortality
  • preventing unwanted pregnancies
  • curbing the spread of sexuality transmitted infections, including HIV, and AIDS
  • empowering women and girls
  • building a more sustainable world for all people